Reincarnated Into A Dead Woman's Body In Another World-Chapter 342: Arc 5, - 36: Eye of the Beholder

"Hey."

Tiffany turned around and felt a smile grow. "Greetings, young adventuring detective. It pleases the Child of Void to see thy presence once more."

"What d’you mean young? We’re the same age," Fumeko crossed her arms.

"Tis true. Nonetheless, does thou beseech my company?" she laid a hand on her chest and looked away with a pose.

"...I can leave right now without saying goodbye-"

"W-w-wait!" Tiffany was quick to turn with a bubbled eye.

Fumeko smirked, "Too easy."

The blonde cleared her throat, "Apologies. So, tis true then? Thou wished to be with one as exalted as I on this fair day?" she laughed. "What about thy companions?"

"Well, they should be heading off soon enough once their business is done here. I’m staying behind. Wanna, hang out?" she shrugged indifferently.

"Unquestionably! Where does thou desire to hang?"

"Uh, I don’t know," Fumeko’s nose scrunched. "There’s still places in the school, isn’t there?"

"Yet another tour?" Tiffany raised a brow.

"It doesn’t have to be a ’tour’, you can just show me around and we can talk and stuff. I haven’t seen your room yet, right?"

"Why does thou have a sudden fascination of mine bedchambers?" the blonde’s cheeks went a bit rosy.

"T-that’s not what I meant," the brunette glanced down in a hurry, apparently examining the grass.

"Huh? Pray tell, what does thou believe I meant!?" Tiffany narrowed her one eye and shied away.

"What?" Fumeko swished her head up. "I don’t think you meant anything- I mean, that you meant that I mean, that I meant having an- Wait, I mean that- Ugh! You said that you’d invite me to your room some other time!"

Tiffany’s voice cracked, "That is, what I assumed. I merely posed an inquiry..." she flicked one of the curling blonde locks framing her face and returned to her poised self.

Fumeko massaged her cheeks to make sure there was no reddening, "It’s just your dorm room, don’t make it such a big deal."

"Apologies," the blonde sighed.

Fumeko took a look around. Students still lingered about their graduation location; a couple of teachers were around, but the headmaster as well as the Grand Alderman had departed from the vicinity.

School staff and student volunteers were rearranging all the chairs and putting away equipment left up on the stage. Most of them were older students. 𝐟𝚛𝕖𝚎𝕨𝗲𝐛𝚗𝐨𝐯𝐞𝕝.𝐜𝗼𝗺

Some of them stacked the chairs high and sat on the tallest stack, only to compete by trying to build a higher stack. Two boys battled each other with a chair each till a teacher came by and seemed to scold them.

To the side of the stage, graduates and other students would pay at the booth and pose at a camera manned by a student. "Is that the photography club?" Fumeko pointed.

"Indeed. Tis their venture."

"You wanna go take one?" Fumeko queried.

Tiffany pursed her lips, "For thou wish to keep a memorandum of I? Hah! I notice the appeal," she giggled vivaciously. "Is it not pleasanter that thou cherish mine memory in the time we devote?"

Fumeko’s eyes glazed over, "What’re you hiding? What’s wrong with a picture?"

"Hiding? Hmph, to suggest such a thing... Nay, I conceal naught. However..." Tiffany slumped a smidgen. "They run for a fee of seven silver..."

"That’s it? I can pay it," Fumeko cocked her head.

Tiffany scoffed, "I cannot implore thou to do such an act!"

"I really don’t mind," Fumeko walked towards the table of the booth. "You want one, or not?" she looked back.

"I..." guilt drifted across Tiffany’s face, "If, thou truly do not mind..." she shuffled behind.

The brunette faced her as they walked, "What, you don’t get an allowance or something?"

"Indeed I do, however tis forty-five silver per week... Seven silver is just about enough to encompass two days’ worth of meals from dawn to dusk."

"Let me guess, the rest goes towards your fashion sense?"

"Hmph! Must I not accessorize myself in tasteful apparels and ornaments to display one’s exceptional potentialities? I am Stella Vespertillio, the Child of Void within the Sea of Stars!

If mine appearance is anything but otherworldly, HAH! Tis would be an affront, nay an atrocity towards the void from whence I came," she huffed.

Fumeko stopped and stared... Seeing that the other students were nearby, she opened her mouth, "Tiffany."

"Halt! At once you wicked brute!" Tiffany leaned in hushed through her teeth.

"Then come on, let’s get a photo—hell, we’ll get two," Fumeko walked towards the booth.

"I-if thou insists..."

_

Following the line, the two stepped onto the little platform in front of the camera. "A moment," Tiffany stopped the student operating the camera for a second and quickly took off her robes, "Does thou wish to be seen in these garbs?"

"Guess not," Fumeko did the same as they both put their robes beside the platform and posed in their uniforms beneath.

Tiffany stood with one leg forward, one back. She posed with a few fingers over her eyepatch on the left eye while keeping the majority of her face in view. She angled a chin a little high and gave a vibrant grin... Then her eye looked to Fumeko on her right...

Fumeko stood straight and stared at the camera with a, sorta smile?

"Another moment..." Tiffany paused again.

"What is it?" the brunette turned.

"Why does thou appear with such stiffness?" Tiffany adjusted Fumeko’s shoulders a bit. "Tis as if thou art striking a pose for a card of identities."

"Besides my ID, this is how I posed with my dad for photos," Fumeko grumbled.

"Eugh, assume a livelier posture. Has thou not perceived a tabloid in thy existence?"

"Hey, there’s other people waiting ya know," the girl behind the camera hollered over.

"Apologies," Tiffany took her pose once more. "Just, give a natural smile and pose a little, it’s not that hard," she quickly spoke.

Fumeko forced a smile and her brows furrowed a little as the blonde posed. "FLASH!"

"What was that?" Tiffany looked to the other in concern.

"Why’re you so worried?" Fumeko fluttered her eyelids to recover from the bright flash.

"Don’t you want your money’s worth?" Tiffany retorted.

"Okay, next in line-"

"Hold on, I paid for four photos," Fumeko glared to the photographer. The photographer sighed and looked through her lens again.

"Why don’t you try remembering some funny memory," Tiffany suggested as she took her pose again.

There were a myriad to choose from- How many times had she truly laughed since she got to Burnetrout...? She was sure she had snickered and smiled, but so many more recent moments were... morose.

"FLASH!" There was a soft smile on Fumeko, but nothing more. "We’re just supposed to be having fun, right?" Fumeko pondered aloud.

"I’d say so," the blonde gave a meek smile.

"Then, I guess we’re just having fun Stella," Fumeko loosened up a bit and got closer to Tiffany before she smiled haughtily.

"Hah! Indeed," Tiffany posed once more, this time her chin lower and with a brighter smile. "FLASH!"

Fumeko noticed how Tiffany had her fingers over her eyepatch—two fingers and a thumb out, hovering above. Fumeko mimicked the pose with her right hand and angled it sideways.

The brunette stepped ahead with her middle finger poking next to her temple and thumb pointing to the corner of her lip—she leaned with a smile.

Noticing this, Tiffany stepped ahead and tried to pose better.

Fumeko placed her left leg further forward.

Tiffany pushed into the brunette slightly.

The brunette pushed back and leaned further with a bright arrogant grin. Both their shoulders knocked into each other. Tiffany gave a chuckle with her pose. A ripple of transparent white waved up Tiffany’s eye, while shadows glimmered in Fumeko’s eyes.

"FLASH!"

Tiffany stumbled forward!

Fumeko hopped down and pushed the blonde back onto the platform by her shoulders.

"Okay, next," the photographer called.

"How do we get the photos?" Fumeko turned.

"You can come get them in a week or give us your address, we’ll mail it to you. Now, next!" she responded.

Fumeko and Tiffany stepped away, with subtle laughter under their breaths. Tiffany took both their robes and walked away with Fumeko in tow.

"Where’s the Sun?" Fumeko groaned and swivelled her head facing the sky. She rubbed her eyes and adjusted from the several camera flashes.

"Heyyy, you’re mystery name, right?"

Fumeko faced up to a girl in academic robes and furrowed her brows. She had medium-length light brown hair and face adorned in light makeup. "Yeah..."

Only now did the brunette realize two more girls standing right next to the one that spoke—all in graduation attire. "Julia," the girl that spoke introduced.

"Fumeko Namora," as Fumeko introduced herself, she noticed Tiffany go silent next to her. The blonde had become rather bashful and averted the gaze of the three girls.

"That definitely sounds Luxinorian," the girl on the right with a pixie cut and freckles replied. "Hi, Lacey," she reached her hand out, which Fumeko shook cautiously.

"So, studying from abroad or something?" the last girl, with long black hair and a few streaks of pink approached and faintly brushed against Fumeko’s free arm. "Tilly by the way."

"No, it’s a bit complicated..." Fumeko replied as she was slowly nudged away from Tiffany.

"Oh, you gotta tell us all about it. You’re a bit of a celebrity in our class," Julia continued as Lacey slowly eclipsed Tiffany. Their bright smiles continued as they practically started shifting Fumeko away.

Fumeko narrowed her eyes as she was forced to walk along, "Uh, some other time..."

"We’ve already graduated, what other time is there?" Tilly chatted.

"Well, Stella-"

"Oh her?" Julia interrupted Fumeko. "Don’t worry about Scream-Freak, she likes being alone."

"I don’t-"

"Plus, she’s a bit," Lacey leaned in close and hushed before she circled a finger next to her head.

"She means a loon," Tilly added. "More importantly, she’s like scary. She talks to herself and yells a bunch of weird shit."

"Seriously, she might kill you," Julia continued.

Fumeko wrenched free from the lot and glared daggers, "I’ll take my chances."

Julia simply hummed and their smiles only slightly lowered. "Suit yourself," Julia shrugged and watched Fumeko walk away, before they themselves rolled their eyes in disgust and walked off.

Tiffany cleared her throat and stood tall, "Ah, thou hath returned."

"D’you know those girls?" Fumeko queried.

"Those future vagrants are from our class, the Class of Aces," she crossed her arms and scowled.

"Asshats..."

Tiffany tried hard to maintain her arrogant stature, "Did they, say anything...?"

"Don’t worry about them," Fumeko replied. "Cheer up, we’ve graduated. You don’t need to deal with them anymore."

"I suppose..."

The brunette pouted... Then her eyes lit up, "They stay in the dorms, right?"

Tiffany took a moment to think, "Only one—Tilly. The other two go b-back home every day."

A sly grin crept up Fumeko’s face...

_

"Keep an eye out," Fumeko hushed as she looked into a keyhole.

"Understood," Tiffany looked around the, for now, empty dormitory hallway. With the ongoing ceremony and the school semester yet to begin, it was practically empty in here.

"Woosh." Fumeko blinked into her room. She looked to the round shag carpeting, the posters of bands on the wall and the scent of cheap perfume. She took a deep breath—there was a lot more to uncover...

Tiffany stood in the hallway, constantly looking both right and left. She opened up her mouth and a soft echo travelled down the right side of the hallway.

She waited for a moment and listened... She knew the coast was clear, then repeated the process on the other side. No one seemed to be nearby or approaching at the moment.

...

...

"Woosh." Fumeko reappeared, carrying several articles of clothing, ranging from undergarments to uniforms. "I think I got enough. Let’s hurry."

"Thou needn’t worry, none pass through these halls. Although, this response hardly seems, noble..."

"It’s probably not the best thing we can do, but hey, you get what’s coming to you," Fumeko shrugged with the pile in her arms.

Tiffany smirked, "Indeed. I wish I could help with this mischief, I sought to do something akin to this for an extensive time."

"You were just missing an accomplice. And don’t worry about it, call it a favour from a friend," Fumeko was more than delighted to blink up onto the ceiling beams and begin hanging all the clothes onto it.

She blinked back down, having arranged her masterpiece along the beam. The brunette proudly looked up with her hands on her hips.

"It would’ve been nice if you went here—properly. We could’ve gotten up to a lot of things," Tiffany said, looking to the back of Fumeko.

"Yeah, I wish I could," Fumeko sighed.

As the blonde glanced up, her eye widened, "What, in the n-name of the void... You, didn’t..."

Fumeko grinned wider, "Found it in her nightstand."

A soft pink phallic toy sat atop the beam at the centre of all the suspended clothes. Fumeko looked back to the blonde with an unending grin.

Tiffany let out a chuckle... then she giggled before it turned into laughter, less vivacious and more pleasant and quiet. Fumeko couldn’t help but snicker. "Weee, should probably get out of here," the brunette suggested.

"To my room then," Tiffany led and opened the door with her key. Inside, there was enough room for a soft black carpet, but most of the other furniture took up the floor space.

The puffy red and black sheets lied across the bed in the corner; a few pillows and at most a dozen teddy bears lined against the wall along it.

A nightstand, a desk cleared of books and arranged, dozens of posters from fashion magazines across all four walls—a powdery rose-like scent as they walked in, not stuffy but pleasant.

Fumeko looked to the large poster of a model with fishnet gloves smoking a cigar, whilst Tiffany shut the door and walked to her overflowing vanity.

Nail polish, compact powder, foundation, eyeliner, eyeshadow, mascara, lipstick—there were perhaps ten of each one in different brands and different shades.

There were stickers of stars on her vanity mirror as she looked at herself and sat down on the stool. "Fumeko, come hither," Tiffany waved some product in her hand.

Fumeko had to barely take four steps to reach the blonde. Tiffany held out a black lipstick-

"Uhh," Fumeko recoiled her head. "I, know someone else who might be interested in this kinda stuff..."

"It won’t hurt, you can wipe it off immediately," she moved the lipstick closer.

"I didn’t come here for a makeover," Fumeko groaned.

"Hmph. What happened to having fun? Aren’t you even a little curious?" Tiffany pouted.

Fumeko peered at the black lipstick... There was certainly a temptation... "No."

Tiffany sighed and pulled her hand away.

"Oh fine, for your sake," Fumeko’s eyes glazed over. "Did you practice on your teddy bears before or something?"

Tiffany grabbed Fumeko by the chin and held her steady, to which Fumeko’s eyes bubbled... Tiffany applied it slowly across the brunette’s lips with a glare, "You’re lucky I don’t smudge this over your eyes."

Fumeko barely registered her words, too focused on how delicately the blonde traced along her lips. Her face reddened...

"There," Tiffany moved her chin left, then right. "It actually looks good on you."

Fumeko broke out of the trance and peeked at the mirror... Her face scrunched seeing herself wearing black lipstick, "Eghhh, I guess it matches with the uniform..."

"Some eyeliner and mascara, then it’ll be complete," Tiffany smiled.

"I... am not into this stuff, but, if you want..." Fumeko kept her face where it was.

"Oh just this once. This is," Tiffany’s hand paused as she grabbed her eyeliner... "Will w-we, meet again?" she side-eyed Fumeko.

"I mean," Fumeko’s eyes darted away. She hadn’t really thought about it herself. With the case, adventuring, her whole situation—doing some makeup with Tiffany was hardly a priority.

Same went for the matter of hanging out or seeing her again... "I don’t know," the brunette admitted. "There’s no reason we can’t, right? I know I’m adventuring and all, but I’m just in Dolpool for now."

Tiffany took some comfort in those words, "We’ll see then. I did wanna hear about your adventuring stories."

"No more fancy talk?" Fumeko mocked.

"Why? Does thou wish for I to articulate in my true manner for longer? I simply deemed it worthy of my time to speak with thy tongue," Tiffany scoffed with a smile.

"I’ll take normal talk if it’s an option then... But adventuring stories aside, I did have a question."

"Pray tell."

"I’ve heard students call you Scream-Freak. Why is that? Did you do something with your affinity...?" Fumeko theorized as she asked.

"I..." Tiffany lowered the eyeliner and almost, looked like she was about to jump and run off. Her leg twitched and she gulped... "We, h-haven’t known each other for long..."

Fumeko’s eyes softened, "It’s, fine. Sorry I-"

"No," Tiffany waved a hand. "I was g-gonna say, despite that, I d-don’t mind if you know. Ahem! I see not a reason to convey my past to a friend. Most students already know anyway, I’d prefer if you heard it from me.

When I was in my s-sixth year, a b-boy pushed me against the w-wall," Tiffany shut her lips and poked her cheek before she talked again, "He didn’t hurt me, just got very close to me...

He said he liked me and wanted to take me out. I-I, don’t know if I was flustered or felt intimidated, I d-don’t remember fully. But I know he, came in close and was about to kiss me.

In the panic, I screamed... I also, accidentally used a spell. There were some ’friends’ nearby and some of his friends; his friends pretty much blocked mine from interjecting.

Everyone, the entire first and second floor of the academy’s building heard me scream. The boy fell back and started breathing erratically—his ears were bleeding.

Before I knew it, medics were in the school and the people around me were having mild headaches for the next few hours. The teachers took me to the office and asked what happened.

The situation took care of itself, the police asked me a few questions over a couple of days, the boy was in the hospital, but I didn’t really get into too much trouble.

As rumours began to spread, I got the news. I had ruptured that boy’s eardrums and made him permanently deaf. After that, everyone sort of, distanced themselves from me for safety..."

"The teachers?" Fumeko questioned.

"They, looked at me like some special kid—not in a good way. When I’d get bullied, even the teachers didn’t really wanna get close to me; the ones that did, just advised me to keep my cool..."

"I-"

"It’s fine," Tiffany uttered before Fumeko said anything. "Don’t say you’re sorry or something. It’s years old now; you asked about the name, so I answered."

"I was gonna say, I think that’s bullshit. You managed to fight off someone and get an affinity that early—that’s awesome! Well, not the making someone permanently deaf part, sorry," Fumeko winced.

Tiffany gawked at the brunette...

"Seriously, they called you Scream-Freak for years, for that? That’s stupid; they’re stupid. And the teachers even worse," the brunette continued.

"Hah. You’re, definitely something Fumeko Namora," she raised her brow in a chuckle and slight concern.

"Blast!"

The sound got them both as rain began drizzling and tapping onto the window.